The present invention relates to a printing system in which a plurality of printing apparatus, a plurality of host devices, and an administrative server are connected to with each other through a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to a printing system capable of conserving energy consumption.
Recently, a conventional printing system has been widely used, in which a plurality of printers connected to a plurality of host devices through a network are shared as network printers. In the conventional printing system, after it is detected that all of the host devices sharing one network printer finish operating, the one network printer is turned off (refer to Patent Reference).
Patent Reference: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-172474
In the conventional printing system described above, instead of one network printer, when a plurality of printing apparatus is connected to a plurality of host devices through a network and shared as network printers, all of the printing apparatus keep turning on if just one of the host devices is operating. In other words, only even when it is necessary to use just one of the printing apparatus, it is necessary to turn on other printing apparatus, thereby wasting energy.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of conserving energy consumption.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.